If you haven't already seen it, last week I reviewed my way-too-early guess at Notre Dame's class of 2019. I also promised you guys another way-too-early guess at Notre Dame's recruiting class for 2020 -- and here it is. The Notre Dame football staff has been recruiting the 2020 cycle very hard since the end [...]

Notre Dame football received some fantastic news tonight, as massive 2020 defensive end Alexander Ehrensberger has decided to verbally commit to the Fighting Irish. The 6'7"/240 pounder out of Dusseldorf, Germany is the 4th commit for the Irish from the Class of 2020, and their first on the defensive side of the ball. My decision [...]

Welcome back to the 18 Stripes Film Room. Dexter Williams returned to the field on Saturday and responded by slicing through the Stanford defense for a touchdown on his first carry behind a plethora of tight ends and pulling linemen. So pull out your lunch pail because we're talking some smash mouth football today. The [...]

Welcome back to the 18 Stripes Film Room. I've been off the past few weeks recruiting grizzly bears for Larz's secret training program. It's hard work but someone has to do it. Today we're going to take a look at Ian Book's touchdown pass to Chase Claypool. It's a good look at how Chip Long [...]

Just like Larz, I've been away from the Film Room for quite some time. But the 18 Stripes crew is already in mid-season form which means we have two film posts this week. Larz already looked at the defense so today we'll move to the offensive side of the ball. We'll take a look at Notre [...]

Total yardage and yards per play were almost identical. Michigan had a significant edge in efficiency. So how did Notre Dame control the game and come away with the win last weekend over Jim Harbaugh and company? Confused? Check out this handy-dandy advanced stats glossary. The Basics As you can see, the Irish and Michigan [...]

It's not surprising that advanced stats see the Irish as a top 10 team entering 2018. After a significant leap forward on defense last season, Notre Dame returns more production on that side of the ball than almost every team in the nation. The offense, which fueled by a dominant run game performed like a [...]

Signing Day 2019 is almost a full year away, which means it's time for another way-too-early guess at who the Fighting Irish will end up landing for this cycle. As you probably remember, I did one of these posts last year. I was not as accurate as I had hoped. Will my guess be more [...]

Some of you may remember that at this time a a year ago (to the date, actually) I put out a Way (Way) Too Early Guess at Notre Dame's 2018 Recruiting Class. It projected big things for the Class of 2018, including a Top 10 finish in 247 Sports Composite Team Rankings. Well, I got [...]

The 2018 Notre Dame recruiting class had a much-needed addition today when cornerback DJ Brown signed with the Fighting Irish. The 6-1/185 pound athlete out of Washington DC's St. John's College was an Under Armour All American this year and is the former teammate of current Notre Dame defensive end Kofi Wardlow. Recruiting Service Rankings [...]

Alternative clickbait headline - "Is Notre Dame scheduling itself out of future playoff contention?" The schedule for Irish football has become a hot topic in recent months, following the announcements of a two-game series with Wisconsin in 2020/21 and moving next year’s scheduled home game against Syracuse to Yankee Stadium. This debate is nothing new [...]

If you were in the Navy Week Game Chat this past Saturday, you might have picked up that Murtaugh was able to hook me up with a sweet press pass for the game. It was a pretty cool experience. I got to see all the action of the game from a heated press box, I [...]

It’s almost November already and the Irish are ready for another Top 15 showdown at Notre Dame Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Before we enjoy the festivities of gameday, let’s take a quick look at the 2018 Offensive Big Board and catch up on some recruiting. 247C Pos Name Temp .9952 OG Jamaree Salyer Cold .9114 OG [...]

Notre Dame continues a strong week of 2018 recruiting as offensive tackle Cole Mabry out of Brentwood, Tennessee has committed to the Fighting Irish. Cole is one of the most recent offers sent out by the Fighting Irish staff. He just received his offer this past weekend during his visit for Junior Day. Obviously a [...]

National Signing Day 2018 is approximately eleven-and-a-half months away. It's much too far away for anyone to have a clear idea how Notre Dame's Class of 2018 will turn out. Which makes it the perfect time for me to throw out a prediction just for the hell of it. Here's a list of Irish targets [...]